I did various improvements while planning, so I decided to add dark worlds and release the update.

The launcher is gone for good, and settings are now in a text file instead of Windows registry. You’ll need to change them again if you’re updating since they’ll be reset to the defaults, but it’s only once for this update.

Change log:

Game settings are now saved in the Windows app data folder instead of the registry.

Removed the launcher.

Added dark worlds.

Worlds with undiscovered treasures are now highlighted on the universe map.

Available resources are now displayed on the universe map.

Added a hint on how to scroll and zoom the universe map.

Added descriptions for special worlds, visible on the universe map after visiting the world.

Activated triggers are now changed on the world map. No more looking for the missed one!

Changed magic vortex effect a bit to make it different for portals, spells and resources.

Improved tutorial to tell which buttons to use and point to objects on the map.

Player now respawns in the castle with zero mana and half health after death.

So, here’s the serious change to the global gameplay. You won’t find spells in the worlds now, instead you can collect resources to craft them. I might add spells you can find later, but they’ll be very rare, and most likely hidden in some secret places and locked with puzzles.

There’s also a tutorial now. I’ll expand it as I add new mechanics in the next updates.

Let me know what you think of the new gameplay.

Change log:

Added resources which can be collected from the worlds and crafted into spells.

Added tutorial world.

Birds will now flock more and attack together when provoked.

Fixed bug that sometimes caused generated worlds to be empty.

Fixed bugs that produced wrong distances to portal and castle. Mana recharging and Use Portal spell will work better now.

Starting a new game in the used slot will now properly erase all old files.

I rewrote most of the world generation for this update. It’s now based around the gameplay needs. One can add a bunch of elements needed for the gameplay to the world and the system will build the terrain around that.

I left the gameplay about the same for now, but I’ll change that with the next updates, especially the ways you get new spells.

The old saved games won’t work with this update, and the next ones will likely break them again.

Some minor changes: you can see “special” objects on the map now, and the starting mana is enough to cast the castle right away.

The major feature of this update is saving/loading of worlds, with all monsters, objects, scripts etc. It took about a month this time, but there was no way to release half of it.

The game is otherwise about the same, but feels a bit different anyway since you now keep your castles in every world etc. However, persistent worlds allow for long-term gameplay, so I’m going to build on that in the next updates.

Change log:

Worlds with all monsters, objects etc. are now saved in the saved game.

Added button to open saved games folder.

Added “black dot” crosshair option.

Combat music now starts immediately when a caterpillar attacks the player.

Some people asked about some kind of roadmap, so here’s a rough estimate of the development progress so far:

I skipped posting about the previous update, so here’s the new stuff: I added first land monsters (caterpillars), world palettes (so I can customize world colors to look more interesting than just randomly generated ones), magic vortex to highlight portals and collectable spells, and fixed some bugs.

I also researched new method for object shadows for some time, but its quality and performance isn’t good enough yet to release it.